India's copper trimmed early gains to trade steady on Monday evening on worries demand for industrial metals may be affected due to a deepening global recession and huge inventory pile-up, analysts said.
"We expect range-bound movements in copper for the day," said Pranav Mer, an analyst at India Infoline Commodities.
Short-term gains could be seen up to 147-148 rupee level, Mer added.
However, analysts said copper is expected to trade weak for the next year on continuing demand woes amid the global financial turmoil, a deepening recession internationally, and rising inventories.
Copper stocks monitored by the London Metal Exchange rose by 5,250 tonnes to 336,700 tonnes on Monday.
"The outlook is still bearish as fundamentals are not supportive," Mer said.
"There is no technical opportunity for trading for the day as prices are expected to move in a tight range," said Amrut Deshmukh, a technical analyst at Way 2 Wealth Securities in Mumbai.
At 6:23 p.m., the benchmark February copper MCCG9 traded 0.28 percent higher at 144.50 rupees per kg. The contract witnessed an intra-day high of 146.9 rupees.
